Well, there are no illusions now. No doubts. No excuses. Until Saturday night, you could make the case Miami went through a couple of bad weeks, on the road, against a couple of fired-up conference rivals. But now words fail me.

Miami lost to Duke at home on Saturday night, 20-12.

That’s Duke, as previously 1-3 in the ACC Duke.

That’s Duke, as in basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke.

That’s Duke, as in Duke, a program Miami should never, ever, not-in-your-lifetime lose to at home. It never had, either. Not as The U, anyhow. Its only home loss to Duke came in 1976, which was before Miami was a program of any renown.

Get the idea? Mark Richt is out of answers this year, too. Saturday showed that. He dug deep in his bag of desperation from the start. He went for it on fourth-and-2 from his 49-yard line on his offense’s second series. The play call, a deep pass, sailed out of bounds. On the next series, N’Kosi Perry replaced Rosier at quarterback.

And then Rosier soon replaced Perry.

And then Perry replaced Rosier again in the fourth quarter.

Is there a plan here? Or just a lot of finger crossing? Nothing really changed in the quarterback shuffle, least of all the scoreboard. So a desperate night became an ugly one. When coach Mark Richt appeared on the stadium’s Jumbotron early in the fourth quarter to deliver some videotaped message, boos filled the night.

They were louder boos than in a failed second series to the game. Louder than the boos when Duke scored to take the lead in the third quarter. Boos fell like rain, which came like a monsoon much of the first half, making puddles turn into ponds on the playing field.

Somewhere, Al Golden was giggling.

That’s where we’re at with this program in Year Three with Richt. We’re thumbing through the ugly losses with Golden and wondering if this was Miami’s worse loss since Clemson ran home with that ugly-loss competition by beating Golden, 58-0.

“It’s becoming too common to congratulate the opponent first,’’ Richt said to open his comments after the game. “But I’ll do that. Duke deserved to win.”

So many odd things happened in this game. Duke’s first play, a simple run, went 75 yards for a touchdown. Miami exchanged quarterbacks early like recyclables. Duke threw two jump passes over the line on one drive – the second for a touchdown. And, yes, that rain out of some horror movie.

Still, the biggest oddity was the final score. This was a must-win game for Miami. Duke, you might think, should be an always-win game for Miami. But this wasn’t a night about history lessons. It was about survival.

Miami’s season is kaput now. Richt’s honeymoon, if it hadn’t already ended, is officially over. Some will want his era done after consecutive losses to Virginia, Boston College and now Duke.

Nothing would have been solved in the big picture with a win against Duke. But it would have helped the small picture. Instead, a lot of ugly was on display this night. Three ugly turnovers talked of attention to details. A botched extra point and blocked field goal attempt told of the continued kicking-game woes.

Even when Miami was winning at half, 12-7, it’s not like its offense had solved its most pressing problem. It ran for 235 yards and passed for 33 at that point. The school of Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar and Steve Walsh doesn’t have a quarterback.It plays two, though.

“Obviously, you’d love to have one quarterback who’s playing his tail off and there’s no question who it can be,’’ Richt said. “I think it would be in our best interest if one guy steps up and balls out. We’re still trying to find that answer right now.

Perry drove them down the field in the final seconds to within sight of a touchdown — and had one until a pass-interference penalty took it away. You don’t get points for effort, which is essentially all Miami is getting these days.

Earlier this week, I wrote a column saying fans had every right to want more from Richt this season but not to be in a frenzy over his job. This night doesn’t change that idea. It just makes the cracks in his building program more obvious to see.